New Friends
by bh415
Summary: Ponyboy has a new friend, the only problem is he's a Soc.
1. Chapter 1

"Roy why don't you go sit over there next to Ponyboy?" Ponyboy jumped at the sound of his name. He had been watching the clouds float by outside and now he turned to look at the boy that was sitting down beside him. 'Soc' was his immediate thought. The boy was wearing expensive jeans, as nice jacket and shoes that looked like they cost more than Ponyboy's entire wardrobe.

"Hi, my name's Roy." he said, holding out his hand for Ponyboy to shake. "I'm new here." Ponyboy looked at him with raised eyebrows and shook his hand.

Just then Richard walked up, Richard was a Soc a few years older then Ponyboy and he grinned down at him as he said to Roy, "Looks like you've got pretty good taste in clothes, why don't you come sit with us?" He jerked his thumb back toward the table where he and his friends were. "You wouldn't have to hang out with this loser."

Roy looked at Ponyboy to see his reaction, Ponyboy looked at apple he was supposed to be drawing for art. "That's okay," Roy answered. "I'm fine here." Richard looked at him for a second and then laughed, "All right then, suit yourself." He walked off.

"You probably should have gone with them." said Ponyboy looking at Roy strangely.  
"They didn't look all that nice." he replied.

"And I do?" asked Ponyboy, incredulous. Roy smiled, "Nicer than them." Ponyboy shook his head and went back to starring at the apple.

* * *

It had been a few days since Roy had first come to Pony's class and they hadn't talked since the first day, Ponyboy was starting to think they weren't going to. He sat down in his seat, ignoring the rude calls being thrown across the room from Richard and his friends and jumped as someone put a hand on his shoulder. He spun around fast, expecting to see a Soc and it was Roy. 

"Hey, didn't mean to scare you there." he said smiling. Ponyboy smiled weakly in return. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out after school or something?" he asked, the big grin still plastered on his face.

"What?" asked Ponyboy. "Don't you have any friends?"

"Well I just moved here," he answered, apparently unfazed by Ponyboy's rebuke. Ponyboy looked at him for a second, "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're a Soc and me, I'm a Grease, we don't hang out."

"Well I don't know anything about Socs or Greasers, I just wanted to see if you wanted to do something, but if you donít that's fine, I'm not pushing you." He sat down opposite Ponyboy and took out his pencil.

"You really don't know anything about Socs and Greasers?" he asked, trying to imagine a world were the two gangs didn't exist.

"Nope, I just moved to the city, I've lived in the country practically my whole life, I don't know anything about gangs or any of that stuff."

"Right," said Ponyboy, still not really believing it. "Well a Soc is like those guys over there," he nodded with his head, "rich kids and a Grease is like me, with Grease in my hair." He grinned and ran a hand through his hair, flipping it slightly. Roy smiled.  
"You know," said Pony. "I always wanted to go live in the country, go fishing and sit in the grass, not worry about Socs.'

"Yah, it's nice, but you can't ever go to shows and there's nothing to do really." Ponyboy laughed, "Yah, cause I go to so many shows." He winced slightly, "My family, we don't really got enough money to do that kind of thing."

"Oh," Roy looked back to his paper, chagrin on his face. "Sorry."

"Hey you still want to hang out after school?" Ponyboy asked, not looking up form his paper.

"Sure," Roy said with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow," said Roy, looking around. "you do live in a crappy part of town." Pony looked, he hadn't really contemplated the state of his neighborhood for a while. The houses were all falling apart and looked like they could use new paint. Dry, overgrown grass surrounded the cracked cement paths and there was trash littering the sidewalks. You could hear someone shouting on down the street. Ponyboy stopped and looked toward his house.

"You know, you're probably not going to get that warm a welcome, my friends and I have had some bad experiences with Socs lately." Roy stopped and looked at him.

"So what? So you don't want me to meet your other friends?"

"I'm just warning you." said Ponyboy. "I mean, I haven't really told them anything about you or anything"

"Right," said Roy. "well its not like they're going to jump me or anything, is it?" Ponyboy smiled slightly, thinking of the expression on Steve's face when he walked in with a Soc. "I can't promise anything." he said, an evil smile playing across his face. Roy looked at him. "You're serious?"

"Don't worry about it," Pony said laughing. "you'll be with me, come on."

The talking stopped immediately as Ponyboy walked into the house followed by Roy. Two Bit turned off the TV and Steve and Sodapop jumped to their feet watching Roy suspiciously.

"Pony have you gone completely crazy?" Steve nearly shouted. "You don't bring guys like that here." Ponyboy gave Steve a look and turned to see Soda's reaction. His eyes were moving rapidly over Roy and he looked at Ponyboy like "What are you doing?"

Darry came in from the kitchen holding a dish towel to see what the shouting was and then looked from Ponyboy to Roy and back again. "Pony, can I talk to you for a sec.?" he asked throwing the dish towel down on the sofa and beckoning toward the bedroom. Roy looked around uncomfortably and backed up slightly when Steve cracked his knuckles. Ponyboy glared at Steve.

"This is Roy," he said. "He's a friend of mine from school."

"Pony, come." said Darry, leading him toward the bedroom.

"I'll be back in a minute," said Pony to Roy. "Make yourself at home." Roy raised his eyebrows and looked back to were Two Bit, Soda and Steve were all still glaring at him.

"What were you thinking bringing a Soc here?" Darry asked once he had shut the door to the bedroom.

"Don't talk to me like I've gone crazy Darry, he's not a Soc, he's just a friend, aren't I allowed to have friends?"

"Yes, of course you're allowed to have friends, but guys like that aren't friends. They act like your friend, but in the end he'll ditch you for some kid more his style."

"So I'm supposed to ditch him first?"

"Look, you've been through a lot, I just don't want you to get hurt, okay?"

"Yah, I've been through a lot I would think after all I've been through you would want me to have friends. I haven't had anyone to talk to since Johnny. You and Soda are always working and you barely let me leave the house by myself." Pony felt the beginning of tears in his eyes when he said 'Johnny', it still hurt a lot to think about him. Darry looked at him and ran a had through his dark hair.

"Look, just be careful, okay?" Pony looked back at him and could see he was worried and tired about him. "I'll be careful," he promised.

* * *

Thank you for all the Reviews, they really help. 


	3. Chapter 3

It was dark. The street lights that should have been on had all been knocked out and there was no moon.

Why did Darry have to be so mean to him? Constantly telling him what to do and not letting him have any fun. Ponyboy kicked at the curb as he walked on through the darkening twilight.

He saw the car following him, the lights angling toward him in the dark. 'Man that's a tough car.' Ponyboy thought as we slid to the edge of the road, hoping they wouldn't notice him, but they already had. He started running, there was an alley farther up the street that led to a back street that he knew would take him to his house if he could get there in time. The engine noise got louder as the car sped up, trying to catch him before he got to the ally.

"Darrys going to kill me," muttered Ponyboy. "coming out here by myself. Stupid." There was a screech of tires as the car pulled up in front of Ponyboy cutting him off and four Socs got out. He swore and turned around to go back the other way, but they were on him.

"Soda, Darry, help!" he shouted, he new it was useless, they were too far away to hear him, but he didn't know what else to do.

"Shut up Grease," said a rough voice in his ear, he knew it was Richard, and he was pushed down onto the cement. Someone else grabbed him and shined a flashlight in his face.

"Well, well, well. Hello Ponyboy, fancy seeing you out here." They laughed as Pony struggled to get free. "You know, you really should stay on your side of the neighborhood." He pushed him down, landing on top of him and knocking the air out of Ponyboy's lungs so that he gasped for breath.

"I say we give him something to remember us by." They laughed and someone kicked him in the stomach. He rolled away and tried to stand up, but someone else grabbed him from behind and threw him back on the ground. He started shouting, not really sure what he was saying and curled up, trying to get away from the rain of punches and kicks that were pouring down on him.

"Hey what's going on?" there was a shout and the sound of footsteps in the dark. The Socs swore and ran back to their car, leaving Pony lying on the ground barley conscious and trying not to pass out.

"Oh Pony, I'm sorry," it was Roy.

"S'not your fault," muttered Ponyboy through the blood in his mouth.

"Here, can you stand up?" said Roy, trying to lever him into a sitting position. Pony moaned and fell back against the pavement.

"What were you doing anyway coming over here? You know what happens when you come to this side, alone, in the dark. What were you thinking?"

"You sound like my brother," whispered Ponyboy. "I just got sick of being at my house so I decided to go for a walk and then I decided to come over to your house."

"Right, well lets get you over to my house and then we'll call your brothers. They didn't break anything did they?"

"No, but I'm sure they were working up to it. What were you doing out here?"

"I live right there," said Roy, pointing. "I saw their car stop and didn't think they were doing anything good so I came out to see."

"How very brave of you," said Ponyboy with a faint smile that made him wince. Roy helped pull him up and then pulled one of his arms on to his shoulder. It was only a few hundred feet to his house, but Pony had to stop every few feet to rest so it took them nearly five minutes to cover the short distance.

"Come on," Roy coaxed. "just up the stairs and then you can lay down."

"I don't want to go up stairs," he replied looking at them with apprehension.

"Come on Pony, quit being a baby, there's only six of them."

"I'm not a baby, you're a baby." Roy laughed and started half dragging him up the stairs.

- - -

"Soda, have you seen Ponyboy?" asked Darry anxiously as Soda walked.

"No, I've been working, Hal wanted us to fix the radiator on some old car that came in yesterday. Didn't he come home from school?"

"Yah, but-"

"Yah?"

"Well, we got in a little fight."

"Again?" Soda moaned. "I thought you guys were over that."

"Well we were for a while but, you know how he's been lately. Hanging out with Roy constantly and not listening to anything I say. I've just been so tiered lately I got sick of it and got a little mad."

"And he ran off." said Soda, glaring at his older brother.

"Look, I'm sorry, I-" The phone cut him off and Soda grabbed it.

"Hello?" he listened for a few seconds, Darry watching him anxiously and then hung up

"It was Roy, Pony is at his house, but he's pretty banged up, some Socs jumped him." Darry grabbed his car keys without a word and headed for the door, Soda following.


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry it took so long to update, I've been kind of busy...

* * *

"I don't want you to hang out with him anymore."

"What?" responded Ponyboy, nearly shouting. "You can't tell me who to hang out with. Soda, tell him."

Soda winced. "Actually Pony, on this one I think he might be right."

"What do you mean he might be right? It's not Roys fault I got jumped."

"Yeah, I know that Pony, but I just don't want you to get hurt again."

Ponyboy turned and limped to his room, he was still having trouble walking on his right leg almost a week after he had been jumped, and slammed the door.

Darry sighed and looked at Soda at a loss as to what to do next.

"I'll talk to him," Soda promised.

- - -

When Ponyboy came out of his room a little while later Steve and Two-Bit were sitting on the couch watching TV with his brothers.

"Well look at that," he muttered, limping towards the kitchen. "gangs all here."

Soda got up when he saw that Ponyboy was out of their room and came into the kitchen.

"Need help with that?" he asked watching his brother struggle to get the lid off the peanut butter with a sprained wrist.

Ponyboy sighed and handed him the container.

"You know me and Darry, we aren't trying to be mean, we just don't want you to get hurt again. You get that right?"

Pony sighed again and looked at his brother. He looked tired and worried, which was unusual for Soda. ëI shouldn't be upset with them,' he thought.

"Yeah I know. And I know I shouldn't have been out there by myself and I promise I won't do it again. Okay?"

"'kay," agreed Soda with a smile that made Ponyboy smile.

"Want to go to the party down at Buck's?" asked Steve a second later, sticking his head in the door and directing the question towards Soda.

Soda glanced towards Ponyboy and said. "No, I think I'll stay in tonight."

Steve glared at Ponyboy and went back into the living room.

Pony looked at his brother suspiciously as he licked the excess peanut butter from the knife.

"What?" asked Soda, catching the look. "I just want to stay home is all."

Pony shook his head and went back to making his sandwich. Soda smiled, ruffled his hair and followed Steve back to the TV.

- - -

The phone rang and Pony got up from his homework to go get it. Soda was out with Steve some where and Darry was still at work.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Pony." It was Roy, they hadn't talked since Darry and Soda had come and picked him up from Roy's house more than a week before, Pony had been out of school for a few days. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing okay." responded Ponyboy, desperately trying to come up with a reason that they couldn't hang out.

There was a silence for a few seconds and then...

"I guess your brothers weren't to happy about the whole going to my house and getting jumped thing."

Pony sighed, he'd just have to tell him out right. "Yeah, they, um, they don't really want me to hang out with you anymore. You know, they don't want he to get hurt again."

He heard Roy sigh over the phone, "Yeah, I figured something like that when you didn't call. You think they don't want us to hang out at all or just not and the Soc side of town? You think I could still come over there?"

Pony thought about that for a second, the idea honestly hadn't occurred to him, he had just assumed that Roy would not want to come back to his house after the welcome he had received the first time. "That would probably be okay."

"Great, I'll be over in a few." He hung up. Pony smiled, he hoped Darry wouldn't be mad at him.

- - -

It was a few hours later when Soda came home, he heard laughing through the open window and opened the door to see Roy and Pony sitting on the floor playing cards. He raised his eyebrows and threw his DX hat onto the couch.

"Hey Soda," said Pony levering himself up on the couch. Roy stood up too and ran a hand though his hair nervously glancing in between Pony and Soda.

"We were just playing cards and I haven't left the house, honest." said Pony still looking at Soda for his reaction.

Soda looked at Roy, he looked like a good kid, for a Soc, and Pony needed some more friends. It really hadn't been Roys fault that Pony got jumped. He glanced between two of them again, they had been having fun before they got home, Pony had actually been laughing, something he hadn't been doing a lot of lately. He gave them one of his winning smiles and dropped down onto the floor beside the two boys, "What are we playing?"

Roy smiled back, it was impossible not to, and sat back down. Pony grinned, happy that his brother was finally excepting his new friend.


End file.
